Military Saves Week is part of a campaign to help encourage military families to better manage and save money. / Ralph Orlowski,Getty Images

by Susan Tompor, USA TODAY

by Susan Tompor, USA TODAY

Just as the spotlight once again shines on why the government can't juggle its bills, the calendar flips to an annual consumer-oriented event called America Saves Week.

And Military Saves Week runs along with it from Feb. 25 through March 2. By chance, the savings week occurs right as automatic, across-the-board federal spending cuts loom on March 1, unless another agreement is reached in Washington.

Money woes are currently the name of the game across the country.

For military members, financial stress is a constant. Some money troubles are self-inflicted, as service personnel turn to spending to cope with the stress of preparing for dangerous situations. Other financial pitfalls occur as scam artists - and even family members - go after what they see as easy targets.

"I'd get my $700 on a Friday, and I'd wake up Monday morning with no money in my pocket," said Steve Repak, 45, who is now an author, speaker and financial planner in Charlotte.

Repak joined the U.S. Army out of high school in 1985. After 12 years in the military, he said he ended up with $32,000 in credit card debt.

"It was just a lot of wasteful spending," said Repak, who has counseled military members as part of Military Saves Week.

Where did his money go? He bought a big-screen TV, spent too much on flights home, bought dinner and drinks for friends and frankly spent money just buying junk. He was single, didn't have a family back then to support and blames his money woes on "Steve's stupid decisions."

He thought he could afford to spend because he always was able to make the minimum payments on his credit cards.

"It just adds up and adds up, and all of a sudden you have a big mess," said Repak, who is the author of Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic Training For Your Money.

For him, spending money was a coping mechanism.

"You're always spending money to make you feel good."

The military are under the stress of being away from families, dealing with combat zones and working long hours, he said.

Spending way too much can also lead to more borrowing from high-cost predatory lenders.

N. Susan Abentrod, a certified financial planner in Birmingham, Mich., has had experience counseling members of the military across the country and overseas.

Some major financial headaches start, Abentrod said, after service members take out high-cost loans from payday lenders or car dealers.

Unpaid bills or taking on too much debt can ding credit reports and at times put a military member's security clearance at risk. In those cases, military members need to own the problem, get a game plan and actively move toward paying off that debt or dealing with their financial challenges, she said.

If the military member doesn't address the problem, she said, they could be in danger of losing security clearance, left out of promotions and ultimately possibly face losing a job.

"The difficulty is figuring out where does your money go?" she said.

Abentrod recalls working with a Marine who could not understand why he didn't have more money in savings. She handed him a notebook, and once he tracked his spending for a few weeks, she said, he discovered that he was spending an ungodly sum of money on Snickers bars, beef jerky and Cheetos.

He agreed to some changes but wouldn't cut out all snacks.

"The Cheetos are off the table," he said, as he pounded his fist.

Knowing where one can cut back, though, can be a starting point. Take the high cost of cellphones. It's easy for some military families to be paying $200 a month for data plans and cellphones, Repak said. But could someone go to a more limited plan for $50 or less a month? Could financial limits be put on entertainment and eating out?

"It's controllable," Repak said.

Tight budgets, frequent moving and the need to find a job once out of the military can make someone vulnerable to a con game. Warnings from the Better Business Bureau and others are out there for military members about fiscal land mines, including:

â?¢ The Army National Guard has alerted families about con artists who steal photos of soldiers off Facebook and then hit the Internet to ask for financial help to get home after being deployed.

â?¢ Supposed government contractors recruit veterans and ask for a copy of the applicant's passport - and then con artists use the detailed personal information on that passport for ID theft.

â?¢ Online dating services target the military in a remote part of the world, such as Iraq. The love connection in this scam typically has an emergency and requests that money is wired to a third party. Once the money is wired, it's gone.â??

â?¢ Con artists might try to convince a spouse to pay for a security system that was supposedly ordered by the military member to protect the family.

â?¢ Housing deals offered online with special military discounts but then service personnel end up being bilked out of the security deposit.

â?¢ Scam artists who sell stolen vehicles - or cars that they don't even have - at bargain prices claiming to be soldiers who are being deployed.

More disheartening, Abentrod said, are the cases where a family member creates the financial problem. Some family members have stolen Social Security numbers from military members to open credit in the service member's name. The bills aren't paid and credit reports suffer.

Abentrod remembers one case where a mother used her son's ID information to borrow money to buy a sprinkler system. The bills weren't paid.

"His credit was trashed for a sprinkler system," Abentrod said.

Tips for the military and managing money:

â?¢ Active Duty, Active Reserve and Guard and their spouses can take the "Military Saves Pledge" this year and receive a free myFICO Credit Score, with the FINRA Investor Education Foundation picking up the tab. Take the Pledge here. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the large independent regulator for all securities firms in the United States, also offers tips for the military. See www.MilitarySaves.org.

â?¢ Military members and veterans can subscribe to newsletters for updates on scams and other financial issues that target the military. See the Better Business Bureau website at http://www.bbb.org/us/military-line/.

â?¢ Resources at www.SaveAndInvest.org can help you track your spending. The site also includes tips for military finances.

â?¢ TurboTax is offering a free TurboTax military edition of its software for junior enlisted military personnel through Oct. 15. The offer extends to service men and women rank E-1 to E-5. Senior enlisted personnel ranks E-6 to officer can file a federal tax return with the military edition at a discounted price of $24.99.